Generic lighting control consoles serve for controlling lighting systems, as they are used for concert stages or in theaters, for example. These lighting systems regularly comprise a plurality of lighting devices, such as stage lights, said lighting devices in their own right often being able to be switched between a plurality of lighting conditions, such as different colors. These different lighting conditions of the lighting devices connected to the respective lighting control console can be controlled via preprogrammed parameters in the lighting program of the lighting control console. For this purpose, common lighting systems can comprise up to several thousand lighting devices. In order to be able to control such complex lighting systems, the generic lighting control consoles are equipped with a digital processor which enables digital data and signal processing. In order to store the control data, a digital memory is commonly provided which enables in particular storing or archiving lighting programs. For protecting the electric and electronic components of the lighting control console, the corresponding components are installed in a console housing which shields the electric and electronic components of the lighting control console towards the exterior.
For programming the lighting program or rather for controlling the lighting program during operation, the user has to input operating commands as input values. These operating commands can be a selection of a specific lighting device or the setting of a specific parameter, for example. In order to be able to input these operating commands, mechanical operating elements, such as buttons, rotary controls (encoders) or slide controls, are provided in known lighting control consoles, said operating elements being arranged in an operating panel on the upper side of the console housing. The operating commands allocated to the individual operating elements can be altered by adequately switching the menu in order to be able to program and control correspondingly complex lighting programs.
The slide controls, in particular, are immensely important when programming the lighting programs. The slide controls comprise a control knob which protrudes from the console housing on the upper side of the lighting control console and which can be linearly displaced by the user for setting certain programming parameters. A slit is provided in the console housing itself for each slide control, the control knob on the outer side of the console housing being connected to the slide control, which is installed in the housing itself, via said slit.